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Energy

U.S. halt on LNG exports presents new opportunity for Canada

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5 minute read

From the Fraser Institute

By Julio Mejía and Elmira Aliakbari

The Biden administration recently paused the approval of permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, which will force U.S. allies to explore alternative sources of LNG, opening the door for Canada. In fact, if Canadian policymakers remove certain regulatory hurdles, they can help position Canada as a leading global provider of clean and reliable natural gas while also helping create jobs and prosperity in British Columbia, Alberta and beyond.

Following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden committed to supplying steady LNG to the European Union, aiming to reduce reliance on Russian gas. By 2023, the United States had become the world’s top LNG exporter, with several European countries importing more than half of America’s LNG exports. However, President Biden also pledged to transition the U.S. away from fossil fuels so he’s paused LNG exports to appease his environmentalist constituency ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

But this pause comes at a crucial time for European countries grappling with energy shortages and rising prices. Last year, energy-intensive industries in Europe scaled back or halted production amid soaring energy prices, and Germany, Europe’s largest economy, narrowly avoided a recession caused by energy supply shortages. To keep the lights on, European countries have been forced to revert to coal-fired power plants, an energy source that contributes more CO2 emissions than natural gas.

Following the U.S. decision, European and Asian countries (including China) are exploring alternative LNG suppliers, again creating a potential void that Canada could fill. Japan and Germany have already turned to Canada.

Canada’s vast natural resources hold the potential to make a significant positive impact on global energy security, reliability, and emissions reduction by reducing reliance on coal. Despite possessing “the most prolific and lower-cost North American gas resources,” as emphasized by McKinsey’s recent report, development in Canada has encountered challenges largely due to government regulatory barriers. Presently, Canada lacks any operational LNG export terminals, unlike the U.S., which has 27 such facilities. The LNG Canada development in B.C. is slated to become Canada’s first operational facility, expected to begin exporting by 2025.

The absence of LNG export infrastructure in Canada has led domestic natural gas producers to depend on U.S. LNG facilities for exporting. However, with the recent halt on approving new LNG projects south of the border, there’s an urgent need for Canada to establish its own infrastructure if we’re going to seize this opportunity to be a global LNG supplier.

Forecasts indicate steady and growing global demand for LNG. McKinsey’s recent report anticipates an annual increase in global LNG demand of 1.5 per cent to 3 per cent to 2035. And according to the latest report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), limited new LNG production means supply will remain tight.

Despite promising opportunities, various government initiatives including CleanBC (the B.C. government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,) the Trudeau government’s emissions caps on the oil and gas sector, and federal Bill C-69 (which added more red tape and complexity to the assessment process for major energy projects) have created uncertainty and deterred, if not outright prohibited, investment in the sector.

Canada has an opportunity to provide clean and reliable natural gas to our allies, help improve the world’s energy security and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The federal and provincial governments must remove regulatory barriers to allow for the needed infrastructure and investment in the LNG sector, which will also provide jobs and prosperity here at home.

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Business

Premiers fight to lower gas taxes as Trudeau hikes pump costs

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From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

By Jay Goldberg 

Thirty-nine hundred dollars – that’s how much the typical two-car Ontario family is spending on gas taxes at the pump this year.

You read that right. That’s not the overall fuel bill. That’s just taxes.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau keeps increasing your gas bill, while Premier Doug Ford is lowering it.

Ford’s latest gas tax cut extension is music to taxpayers’ ears. Ford’s 6.4 cent per litre gas tax cut, temporarily introduced in July 2022, is here to stay until at least next June.

Because of the cut, a two-car family has saved more than $1,000 so far. And that’s welcome news for Ontario taxpayers, because Trudeau is planning yet another carbon tax hike next April.

Trudeau has raised the overall tax burden at the pumps every April for the past five years. Next spring, he plans to raise gas taxes by another three cents per litre, bringing the overall gas tax burden for Ontarians to almost 60 cents per litre.

While Trudeau keeps hiking costs for taxpayers at the pumps, premiers of all stripes have been stepping up to the plate to blunt the impact of his punitive carbon tax.

Obviously, Ford has stepped up to the plate and has lowered gas taxes. But he’s not alone.

In Manitoba, NDP Premier Wab Kinew fully suspended the province’s 14 cent per litre gas tax for a year. And in Newfoundland, Liberal Premier Andrew Furey cut the gas tax by 8.05 cents per litre for nearly two-and-a-half years.

It’s a tale of two approaches: the Trudeau government keeps making life more expensive at the pumps, while premiers of all stripes are fighting to get costs down.

Families still have to get to work, get the kids to school and make it to hockey practice. And they can’t afford increasingly high gas taxes. Common sense premiers seem to get it, while Ottawa has its head in the clouds.

When Ford announced his gas tax cut extension, he took aim at the Liberal carbon tax mandated by the Trudeau government in Ottawa.

Ford noted the carbon tax is set to rise to 20.9 cents per litre next April, “bumping up the cost of everything once again and it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

“Our government will always fight against it,” Ford said.

But there’s some good news for taxpayers: reprieve may be on the horizon.

Federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s promises to axe the carbon tax as soon as he takes office.

With a federal election scheduled for next fall, the federal carbon tax’s days may very well be numbered.

Scrapping the carbon tax would make a huge difference in the lives of everyday Canadians.

Right now, the carbon tax costs 17.6 cents per litre. For a family filling up two cars once a week, that’s nearly $24 a week in carbon taxes at the pump.

Scrapping the carbon tax could save families more than $1,200 a year at the pumps. Plus, there would be savings on the cost of home heating, food, and virtually everything else.

While the Trudeau government likes to argue that the carbon tax rebates make up for all these additional costs, the Parliamentary Budget Officer says it’s not so.

The PBO has shown that the typical Ontario family will lose nearly $400 this year due to the carbon tax, even after the rebates.

That’s why premiers like Ford, Kinew and Furey have stepped up to the plate.

Canadians pay far too much at the pumps in taxes. While Trudeau hikes the carbon tax year after year, provincial leaders like Ford are keeping costs down and delivering meaningful relief for struggling families.

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Economy

Gas prices plummet in BC thanks to TMX pipeline expansion

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From Resource Works

By more than doubling capacity and cutting down the costs, the benefits of the TMX expansion are keeping more money in consumer pockets. 

Just months after the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) project was completed last year, Canadians, especially British Columbians, are experiencing the benefits promised by this once-maligned but invaluable piece of infrastructure. As prices fall when people gas up their cars, the effects are evident for all to see.

This drop in gasoline prices is a welcome new reality for consumers across B.C. and a long-overdue relief given the painful inflation of the past few years.

TMX has helped broaden Canadian oil’s access to world markets like never before, improve supply chains, and boost regional fuel supplies—all of which are helping keep money in the pockets of the middle class.

When TMX was approaching the finish line after the new year, it was praised for promising to ease long-standing capacity issues and help eliminate less efficient, pricier methods of shipping oil. By mid-May, TMX was completed and in full swing, with early data suggesting that gas prices in Vancouver were slackening compared to other cities in Canada.

Kent Fellows, an assistant professor of Economics and the Director of Graduate Programs for the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, noted that wholesale prices in Vancouver fell by roughly 28 cents per litre compared to the typically lower prices in Edmonton, thanks to the expanded capacity of TMX. Consequently, the actual price at the gas pump in the Lower Mainland fell too, providing relief to a part of Canada that traditionally suffers from high fuel costs.

In large part due to limited pipeline capacity, Vancouver’s gas prices have been higher than the rest of the country. From at least 2008 to this year, TMX’s capacity was unable to accommodate demand, leading to the generational issue of “apportionment,” which meant rationing pipeline space to manage excess demand.

Under the apportionment regime, customers received less fuel than they requested, which increased costs. With the expansion of TMX now complete, the pipeline’s capacity has more than doubled from 350,000 barrels per day to 890,000, effectively neutralizing the apportionment problem for now.

Since May, TMX has operated at 80 percent capacity, with no apportionment affecting customers or consumers.

Before the TMX expansion was completed, a litre of gas in Vancouver cost 45 cents more than a litre in Edmonton. By August, it was just 17 cents—a remarkable drop that underscores why it’s crucial to expand B.C.’s capacity to move energy sources like oil without the need for costly alternatives, allowing consumers to enjoy savings at the pump.

More than doubling TMX’s capacity has rapidly reshaped B.C.’s energy landscape. Despite tensions in the Middle East, per-litre gas prices in Vancouver have fallen from about $2.30 per litre to $1.54 this month. Even when there was a slight disruption in October, the price only rose to about $1.80, far below its earlier peaks.

As Kent Fellows noted, the only real change during this entire timeline has been the completion of the TMX expansion, and the benefits extend far beyond the province’s shores.

With TMX moving over 500,000 barrels more per day than it did previously, Canadian oil is now far more plentiful on the international market. Tankers routinely depart Burrard Inlet loaded with oil bound for destinations in South Korea and Japan.

In this uncertain world, where oil markets remain volatile, TMX serves as a stabilizing force for both Canada and the world. People in B.C. can rest easier with TMX acting as a barrier against sharp shifts in supply and demand.

For critics who argue that the $31 billion invested in the project is short-sighted, the benefits for everyday people are becoming increasingly evident in a province where families have endured high gas prices for years.

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